Wireless access point load balancing

ABSTRACT

Managing wireless access points and/or other devices providing wireless signaling to multiple clients is contemplated. The wireless access point may be managed according to a load balancing strategy directed towards achieving desired network throughput using forced disassociation of clients based on traffic type or other service related indicators and/or force disassociation of roaming partners based on neighboring access point capabilities.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional Application No.61/916,064 filed Dec. 13, 2013 the disclosure of which is incorporatedin its entirety by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to managing wireless access points and/orother devices providing wireless signaling to multiple clients, such asbut not necessary limited to managing the access point according to adesired load balancing process.

BACKGROUND

Many wireless networks suffer from a problem called a sticky clientscenario where a client with lower relative signal strength (RSS) valuemay not be dissociated from a corresponding access point and insteadcontinue to consume valuable airtime, effectively reducing aggregatenetwork throughput. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/537,845,entitled Network Traffic Prioritization, the disclosure of which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, provides a detailedanalysis of the sticky client scenario affecting network throughput whenan access point is tasked with supporting community Wi-Fi. While thepresent invention is not necessary limited to community Wi-Fi relatedaccess points, the noted patent application is believed to be a usefulreference for detailing network congestion and other throughput sideeffects associated with a sticky client, a client connected to an edgeof a wireless network or a client otherwise having relatively slowcommunication speeds

A common solution to the sticky client problem is to simply preventclients having a RSS below a desired level from continuing to consumevaluable airtime. This solution can be problematic as it fails toconsider the content, activities, agreements or other parametersassociated with the sticky client indicating a need to keep a stickyclient even if network throughput is compromised. One non-limitingaspect of the present invention contemplates ameliorating this problemthrough load balancing implemented without arbitrarily or blindlypreventing clients, including sticky clients, from accessing wirelessservices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless system in accordance with one non-limitingaspect of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an access point in accordance with one non-limitingaspect of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart for a method of facilitatingload-balancing in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart for a disassociation process contemplatedto facilitate load-balancing in accordance with one non-limiting aspectof the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart for an advertisement process contemplatedto facilitate load-balancing in accordance with one non-limiting aspectof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodimentsare merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in variousand alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; somefeatures may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particularcomponents. Therefore, specific structural and functional detailsdisclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as arepresentative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless system 10 in accordance with onenon-limiting aspect of the present invention. The system 10 depicts anexemplary environment having a plurality of wireless access points 12,14, 16, 18 tasked with facilitating wireless services for a plurality ofwireless clients (shown with boxes). A controller 20 configured inaccordance with the present invention may be included to facilitatemanaging one or more of the access points 12, 14, 16, 18 according to aload balancing stratagem directed towards implementing disassociationsin a manner advantageous to achieving desired network throughput. Thecontroller 20 may be a standalone, network-based device, as shown,and/or integrated within one or more of the access points 12, 14, 16, 18and configured to facilitate the operations contemplated herein. Theaccess points 12, 14, 16, 18 may be Wi-Fi, cellular or other wirelesscapable devices having capabilities sufficient to provide wirelessspectrum to authenticated clients or clients otherwise having completeda sign-on operation or similar handshake therewith. The access points12, 14, 16, 18 may be connected to other wired/wireless networks and/ora backbone network having capabilities sufficient to facilitatelong-haul transport of signaling associated with the one or moreconnected clients.

Wireless signaling between the access points 12, 14, 16, 18, clientsand/or controller 20 may be compliant with the Institute of Electricaland Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series of standards, thedisclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties herein. The attendant wireless signaling may operateaccording to Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) andPhysical Layer (PHY) Specifications, Amendment 1: Radio ResourceMeasurement of Wireless LANs (IEEE 802.11k) and/or Amendment 9:Interworking with External Networks (Hotspot 2.0, IEEE 802.11u). Thewireless signaling may correspond that described in the CableLabstechnical report for Wireless Wi-Fi entitled Wi-Fi Radio ResourceManagement (RRM)/Self Organizing Networks (SON) Technical Report(WR-TR-RRM-SON-V01-140926), the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety herein. The wireless signalingmay correspond with cellular standards, such as Long-Term Evolution(LTE) based on the Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM)/Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) and Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS)/High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) networktechnologies developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)as specified in its Release 8 and 9 document series and/or TS 36.201,36.300, 36.304, 36.306, 36.321, 36.322, 36.323, 36.331, 36.401, 36.306and 36.902 (self-organizing Network (SON)), the disclosures of which arehereby incorporated by reference in their entireties herein. Of course,the access points 12, 14, 16, 18 and the clients may optionally beconsidered as Internet of Things (IoT) devices and capable of TimeDivision Multiple Access (TDMA), Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access(OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA),Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) 3×, Long TermEvolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wi-Max, Wi-Fi, Digital VideoBroadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T), Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld(DVB-H), Zigbee, ZWave etc., the disclosures of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties.

A wireless signaling range of each access point 12, 14, 16, 18 isgenerically illustrated in a non-overlapping manner for exemplarypurposes as the associated wireless signaling range may vary dependingon signal strength, environmental obstructions, antenna configuration,etc. The wireless signaling range of each access point 12, 14, 16, 18may overlap with one or more of the other access points 12, 14, 16, 18and/or clients connected to one access point 12 may be within wirelesssignaling range of one or more of the other access points 14, 16, 18.The access points 12, 14, 16, 18 and the clients may connect orcommunicate with one or more of the access points 12, 14, 16, 18 as afunction of various messages exchange therebetween. A client withinsignaling range of multiple access points 12, 14, 16, 18 may decidewhich one of the multiple access points 12, 14, 16, 18 to connect withas a function of advertisement messages transmitted from thecorresponding access point 12, 14, 16, 18. IEEE 802.11u, for example,allows a client to query an access point 12, 14, 16, 18 for informationlike a name of the associated access point operator, capabilities of theassociated wireless network, emergency alert information, geo-spatialand civic locations of the access point, potential roaming partners,etc. using Access Network Query Protocol (ANQP) protocol. The client mayuse this information to select one of the access points 12, 14, 16, 18and thereafter negotiate with the selected access point for use of itswireless spectrum. The access points 12, 14, 16, 18 may accept or denyaccess requests depending on roaming agreements, subscriptions and anynumber of other influences.

IEEE 802.11k, section 5, describes additional measurements that may beutilized in accordance with the present invention to facilitateselecting and assessing performance of various access points 12, 14, 16,18 as a function of a radio resource measurement (RRM). The RRM mayinclude the following measurements: beacon, frame, channel load, noisehistogram, STA statistics, location configuration information (LCI),neighbor report, link measurement and transmit stream/categorymeasurement. IEEE 802.11k defines each measurement as follows:

Beacon: The Beacon request/report pair enables a STA to request fromanother STA a list of APs it can receive on a specified channel orchannels. This measurement may be done by active mode (like activescan), passive mode (like passive scan), or beacon table modes. If themeasurement request is accepted and is in passive mode, a duration timeris set and the measuring STA monitors the requested channel, measuresbeacon, probe response, and measurement pilot power levels (RCPI), andlogs all beacons, probe responses, and measurement pilots receivedwithin the measurement duration. If the measurement request is in activemode, the measuring STA sends a probe request on the requested channelat the beginning of the measurement duration, then monitors therequested channel, measures beacon, probe response, and measurementpilot power levels (RCPI), and logs all beacons, probe responses, andmeasurement pilots received within the measurement duration. If therequest is beacon table mode, then the measuring STA returns a BeaconReport containing the current contents of any stored beacon informationfor any channel with the requested SSID and BSSID without performingadditional measurements.

Measurement Pilot: The Measurement Pilot frame is a compact Action frametransmitted periodically by an AP at a small interval relative to aBeacon Interval. The Measurement Pilot frame provides a subset of theinformation provided in a Beacon frame, is smaller than a Beacon, and istransmitted more often than a Beacon. The purpose of the MeasurementPilot frame is to assist a STA with scanning.

Frame: The frame request/report pair returns a picture of all thechannel traffic and a count of all the frames received at the measuringSTA. For each unique Transmitter Address, the STA reports theTransmitter Address, number of frames received from this transmitter,average power level (RCPI) for these frames, and BSSID of thetransmitter.

Channel load: The channel load request/report pair returns the channelutilization measurement as observed by the measuring STA.

Noise histogram: The noise histogram request/report pair returns a powerhistogram measurement of non-IEEE 802.11 noise power by sampling thechannel when virtual carrier sense indicates idle and the STA is neithertransmitting nor receiving a frame.

STA statistics: The STA statistics request/report pair returns groups ofvalues for STA counters and for BSS Average Access Delay. The STAcounter group values include: transmitted fragment counts, multicasttransmitted frame counts, failed counts, retry counts, multiple retrycounts, frame duplicate counts, Request to Send (RTS) success counts,RTS failure counts, Acknowledgement (ACK) failure counts, receivedfragment counts, multicast received frame counts, FCS error counts, andtransmitted frame counts. BSS Average Access Delay group values include:AP average access delay, average access delay for each access category,associated STA count, and channel utilization

Location: The Location request/report pair returns a requested locationin terms of latitude, longitude, and altitude. It includes types ofaltitude such as floors and permits various reporting resolutions. Therequested location may be the location of the requestor (e.g., Where amI?) or the location of the reporting STA (e.g., Where are you?)

Measurement pause: The measurement pause request is defined, but noreport comes back from this request. The measurement pause permits theinclusion of a quantified delay between the execution of individualmeasurements that are provided in a series within a measurement requestframe. The measurement pause used as the last measurement in a frameprovides control of the measurement period when measurement requestframes are to be repeated.

Neighbor report: The neighbor report request is sent to an AP, whichreturns a neighbor report containing information about known neighborAPs that are candidates for a service set transition. Neighbor reportscontain information from the table dot11 RRMNeighborReportTable in theMIB concerning neighbor APs. This request/report pair enables a STA togain information about the neighbors of the associated AP to be used aspotential roaming candidates.

Link measurement: The link measurement request/report exchange providesmeasurements of the RF characteristics of a STA to STA link. Thismeasurement indicates the instantaneous quality of a link.

Transmit stream/category measurement: The Transmit Stream/Categorymeasurement is a request/report pair that enables a QoS STA to inquireof a peer QoS STA the condition of an ongoing traffic stream linkbetween them. The Transmit Stream/Category Measurement Report providesthe transmit-side performance metrics for the measured traffic stream.Trigger conditions included in the Transmit Stream/Category MeasurementRequest may initiate triggered Transmit Stream/Category MeasurementReports upon detection of the trigger condition.

FIG. 2 illustrates an access point 12 in accordance with onenon-limiting aspect of the present invention. The access point 12 mayinclude a wireline interface 24 for exchanging signaling with a backboneor long-haul network over a wired connection and a wireless interface 26for exchanging wireless signals with clients within a correspondingsignaling range. The access points 12, 14, 16, 18 and clients mayoptionally be configured to facilitate Multiple-Input Multiple-Output(MIMO) communications, such as that associated with U.S. patentapplication Ser. Nos. 14/181,640, 14/181,641, 14/181,643 and 14/181,645,the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties herein. The access point 12 may include a controller 28having a processor and a computer-readable medium with a plurality ofnon-transitory instructions operable to facilitate controlling theaccess point 12 to facilitate the load-balancing management contemplatedherein. The access point 12 may be considered as a gateway, a cablemodem, a router, a eNodeB be, a set-top box (STB), a phone or virtuallyany other device having capabilities consistent with the operationsassociated with the present invention (access points may also operate asclients and clients may also act as access points). The access point 12is shown to include the wireline interface 24 for exemplary purposes andas the wireline interface 24 may be replaced with a wireless interfaceor eliminated.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart 30 for a method of facilitatingload-balancing in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention. Block 32 relates to a primary access point, i.e., the accesspoint for which load balancing is desired, determining networkconditions of its wireless network/spectrum. The network conditions maybe assessed as a function of the RRM measurements and other informationcollected by clients or transmitted from the primary access point orneighboring secondary access points. The network condition analysis mayinclude determining relative signal strength (RSS) between the accesspoint and each connected client, an upload rate, a download rate, athroughput, an operating channel, etc. Block 34 relates to determiningaccess points neighboring the primary access point, which may bereferred to as secondary access points. The secondary access points maybe those within wireless signaling range of the primary access point orhaving a portion of their wireless spectrum overlapping with the primaryaccess point and/or one or more of the clients connected to the primaryaccess point. The secondary access points may be determined as afunction of advertisements being broadcasted therefrom including networkcondition related information similar to those described above withrespect to the primary access point.

Block 36 relates to determining one or more triggering events. Thetriggering events may correspond with activities intended to instigate aparticular load-balancing operation. One non-limiting aspect of thepresent invention contemplates implementing load-balancing when athroughput associated with the primary access point drops below adesired threshold, which can occur in the event a sticky client ispresent or the number of clients or nature of the communicationsundertaken with the clients exceeds a desired level of operation. Whilethe present invention is predominately described with respect toutilizing throughput as a trigger for instigating load-balancing, theload-balancing contemplated herein may be performed in response to anynumber of conditions and need not necessarily result from poor networkthroughput and/or need not necessary be implemented until desirednetwork throughput is achieved. Block 38 relates to implementing aload-balancing activity when the throughput drops below the desiredthreshold or other suitable triggering event occurs. The load-balancingmay be characterized by forcing a disassociation until desirablethroughput levels are achieved or the need to take further correctiveaction otherwise ceases.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart 40 for a disassociation processcontemplated to facilitate load-balancing in accordance with onenon-limiting aspect of the present invention. The dissociation processmay be characterized by the primary access point forcing dissociation ofone or more authenticated/connected clients, i.e., preventing access tothe wireless spectrum, with the aim of dissociating clients untilnetwork throughput reaches desirable levels. Block 42 relates to theprimary access point determining a traffic type for traffic beingcarried over its wireless spectrum. The traffic type may be identifiedon a per-client basis such that each client is assigned a particulartraffic type. In the event a client utilizes multiple traffic types orswitches frequently between traffic types, the assigned or determinedtraffic type may correspond with the most prevalent or average type oftraffic. One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplatesidentifying traffic type as one of legacy video, legacy voice and data,non-legacy video and non-legacy voice and data. The legacy andnon-legacy determination may be based on a protocol or standard beingused to facilitate the attendant voice, data or video service. Legacyclients may be those associated with older generation clients, such as802.11b/g clients, when compared to non-legacy or new generatingclients, such as 802.11n clients, which may be much faster and efficientin comparison to the legacy clients. Legacy clients impact theperformance of the entire network by demanding more airtime and bydegrading the average throughput of the network as a whole.

Block 44 relates to determining a disassociation ranking. Thedisassociation ranking may arrange each of the clients in an order ofdisassociation to be followed until desired network throughput isachieved. One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplatesranking the clients such that clients associated with one traffic typeare ranked higher that those associated with another traffic type, e.g.,the legacy video clients may be ranked for disassociation prior to thelegacy voice and data clients, the legacy voice and data clients may beranked for disassociation prior to the non-legacy video clients and thenon-legacy video clients may be ranked for disassociation prior to thenon-legacy voice and data clients. In the event multiple clients arecategorized into to a common traffic type, such as when multiple legacyvideo clients are determined, the clients may be further rankedaccording to RSS, such as by ordering clients with lower RSS fordisassociation prior to clients having RSS. Optionally, any client,regardless of traffic type, may be omitted from disassociation if theircorresponding RSS is above a minimum threshold.

Blocks 48, 50, 52 relate to iteratively disassociating clients accordingto the disassociation ranking until network throughput meets or exceedsa desired threshold. The disassociation process may be performed on aone-to-one or client-by-client basis whereby one client is disassociatedand throughput checked prior to disassociating another client oraccording to a batching of clients, e.g., all clients in a certaintraffic type may be disassociated at the same time or the total numberof clients needed to return throughput to desired levels may beestimated for the purposed of a batched disassociation where multipleclients are disassociated at the same time. The disassociation processmay also include recommending a new access point to each disassociatedclient, such as one of the secondary access points determined to be inproximity to the primary access point. The second access pointrecommended to the clients may be based on an affiliation, e.g., therecommended access point may be one associated with a service providerof the primary access point, or the recommended access point may beidentified as a roaming partner having an agreement or otherauthorization to support clients from other service providers.

An advertisement or other message may be provided to the disassociatedclients for the purposes of recommending the new access point. In theevent multiple secondary access points are suitable for a particularclient being disassociated, the recommended access point may bedetermined based on a ranking where weighted values are assigned forRSS, number of clients and/or roaming partners. The highest rankedsecondary access point may be the one having the greatest RSS relativeto the disassociated client. Optionally, if the RSS for multiple secondaccess points is relatively close or within a common range, thepreferred second access point may be the one having the least number ofclients or having an affiliation with the dissociated client, e.g.,preference may be giving for a second access point affiliated with thesame service provider as the primary access point over a roamingpartner. The upload and download rates of the secondary access pointsmay also be weighted to determine the recommended access point, such asrecommending the access point having a greater download rate if thedissociated client is identified with a traffic type requiring greateramounts of data.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart 56 for a disassociation processcontemplated to facilitate load-balancing in accordance with onenon-limiting aspect of the present invention. The dissociation processmay be characterized by the primary access point forcing dissociation ofadvertised roaming partners with the aim of preventing clientsaffiliated with a roaming partner from connecting to the primary accesspoint until network throughput of the primary access point reachesdesirable levels. Block 58 relates to determining neighboring roamingpartners associated with secondary access points within proximity to theprimary access point and/or one or more clients within the wirelesssignaling range of the primary access point. The roaming partners may becharacterized according to a service level agreement or otherrelationship where access points associated with certain serviceproviders agree to grant access to clients associated withnon-affiliated service providers, such as to enable roaming or othermobility-based access to services when outside of a particular serviceprovider's coverage area.

The table shown below may be generated to track neighboring roamingpartners where the primary access point may correspond with AP1 and thesecondary access points may correspond with AP2, AP3 and AP4 and RPdesignates a particular roaming partner.

Number of List of all the roaming List of associated partners beingadvertised neighbors RSS clients by each neighbor AP2 −40 1 RP2, RP3,RP4 AP3 −50 2 RP1, RP2, RP3 AP4 −60 3 RP3, RP4, RP5

Block 60 relates to determining the roaming partners of the primaryaccess point in common with the neighboring, secondary access points.Assuming the primary access point advertises roaming partners RP1, RP2,RP3, RP7 and RP8, the following table may be generate to indicate theroaming partners unique (not common) to each of the secondary accesspoints.

List of the roaming partners that Name of the are unique to the servingAP when serving AP compared to its neighbors. AP2 RP1, RP7, RP8 AP3 RP7,RP8 AP4 RP1, RP2, RP7, RP8

Block 62 relates to determining a disassociation ranking for theneighboring roaming partners. The table shown below illustrates anexemplary ranking where a weighting of RSS and load (number of clients)is utilized.

No. of List of common Rank AP1's associated roaming partners (Leastload, neighbors RSS clients (Load) with AP1 Best RSS) AP2 −40 1 RP2, RP31 AP3 −50 2 RP1, RP2, RP3 2 AP4 −60 3 RP3 3

AP2 is ranked first due to having the greatest RSS and the lowest load.Optionally, other orders may be generated as a function of RSS alone(e.g., in order of RSS), number of common roaming partners (e.g., theaccess point with the most roaming partners in common may be rankedfirst) and/or some combination thereof. Blocks 66, 68, 70 relate todissociating roaming partners associated with the top ranked accesspoint and then checking network throughput before iterativelydisassociating roaming partners of additional access points. Theiterative process may be referred to as an advertisement process wherebythe primary access point is prevented from advertising availability ofthe common roaming partners so that future connections for those roamingpartners can instead be serviced with one of the neighboring accesspoints, which should eventually decrease the number of connected clientsand increase throughput to the desired level. The foregoingdisassociates all roaming partners in common with the selected one ormore secondary access points as one example of a disassociation patternas other patterns may similarly be used, such as by disassociatingindividual roaming partners on a one-by-one basis instead of all theroaming partners associated with a particular access point.

The client disassociation process of FIG. 4 and the advertisementprocess of FIG. 5 may be combined to provide a hybrid disassociationmethodology where clients are forced to associate with another accesspoint and new connections for particular roaming partners are prevented.The hybrid process may be beneficial, for example, when the primaryaccess point is deployed in an environment where clients are frequentlyconnecting and disconnecting from networks, such as when operatingaccording to a mobility mode or in an heavily trafficked area, as theforced disassociation may be helpful in directing sticky clients toother access points and preventing new sticky clients associated withroaming partners from connecting. The ability to assess neighboringaccess points and their capabilities may be particularly beneficial inproviding recommendations for continued access without disrupting theclient experience when network throughput starts to drop below desiredminimums.

As supported above, one non-limiting aspect of the present inventioncontemplates meeting subscriber demand for mobile data at increasinglysignificant rates by turning to large-scale Wi-Fi networks. Industryinitiatives working to enable an operator to establish 100's of roamingpartner Wi-Fi operator relationships may be capitalized to provide morecoverage for their subscribers, particularly to deploy public Wi-FiSSIDs within residences and SMBs in manner that compensates for thedynamic or transient nature as subscribers move or change serviceproviders. The present invention allows operators to leverage partnernetworks to meet traffic demand with an efficient method for detectinglocal presence and loading conditions of many partner Wi-Fi networks forthe sake of mobile data traffic load balancing. The present inventionalso combats a common problem called the sticky client scenario byenabling an AP to not only take the RSS into consideration whilebalancing the network load but to also consider QoS priorities forcertain traffic types, e.g., dissociating legacy traffic types prior tonon-legacy traffic types. The AP contemplated by the present inventioncan build tables consisting of each of its neighboring APs along withinformation like the average throughput rates, number of clients, RSSfor each of its neighbor, and once the AP has the information from itsneighboring APs, the AP can then send a forceful dissociation to thedissociated client based on the algorithms and processes describedherein.

While exemplary embodiments are described above, it is not intended thatthese embodiments describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather,the words used in the specification are words of description rather thanlimitation, and it is understood that various changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may becombined to form further embodiments of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium havinga plurality of non-transitory instructions operable with a primaryaccess point to facilitate load balancing, the non-transitoryinstructions being sufficient for: determining a plurality of clientshaving completed an association process sufficient for obtaining accessto a wireless spectrum available through the primary access point;determining a minimum throughput to represent a minimum data rate forwireless signaling carried over the wireless spectrum between theplurality of clients and the primary access point; determining athroughput to represent an active data rate for wireless signaling beingcarried over the wireless spectrum between the plurality of clients andthe primary access point; implementing a disassociation process when thethroughput is less than the minimum throughput, the dissociation processiteratively disassociating clients according to an order specified in aranking until the throughput meets or exceeds the threshold.
 2. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprisingnon-transitory instructions sufficient for: determining a traffic typeassociated with the wireless signaling being carried over the wirelessspectrum for each of the plurality of clients; and determining the orderas a function of the traffic types, including determining the order suchthat clients associated with a first traffic type are disassociatedprior to clients associated with a second traffic type.
 3. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 further comprisingnon-transitory instructions sufficient for: determining a relativesignal strength associated with the wireless signaling being carriedover the wireless spectrum for each of the plurality of clients; anddetermining the order as a function of the relative signal strength,including determining the order for multiple clients associated with thefirst traffic type such that the corresponding client having the lowestsignal strength is dissociated prior to the corresponding client havingthe next lowest signal strength.
 4. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 1 further comprising non-transitory instructionssufficient for: determining legacy video clients as one or more of theplurality of clients utilizing the wireless spectrum for legacy videoservices; determining legacy voice and data clients as one or more ofthe plurality of clients utilizing the wireless spectrum for legacyvoice or data services; determining non-legacy video clients as one ormore of the plurality of clients utilizing the wireless spectrum fornon-legacy video services; and determining non-legacy voice and dataclients as one or more of the plurality of clients utilizing thewireless spectrum for non-legacy voice or data services; and determiningthe order such that: i) the legacy video clients are disassociated priorto the legacy voice and data clients; ii) the legacy voice and dataclients are disassociated prior to the non-legacy video clients; andiii) the non-legacy video clients are disassociated prior to thenon-legacy voice and data clients.
 5. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 4 further comprising non-transitoryinstructions sufficient for: determining a signal strength associatedwith the wireless signaling being carried over the wireless spectrum;determining the order for the legacy video clients such that thecorresponding clients are iteratively dissociated on one-by-one basisaccording to increasing signal strength starting with the legacy videoclient having the lowest signal strength; determining the order for thelegacy voice and data clients such that the corresponding clients areiteratively dissociated on one-by-one basis according to increasingsignal strength starting with the legacy voice and data client havingthe lowest signal strength; determining the order for the non-legacyvideo clients such that the corresponding clients are iterativelydissociated on one-by-one basis according to increasing signal strengthstarting with the non-legacy video client having the lowest signalstrength; and determining the order for the non-legacy voice and dataclients such that the corresponding clients are iteratively dissociatedon one-by-one basis according to increasing signal strength startingwith the non-legacy voice and data client having the lowest signalstrength.
 6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient for:determining one or more secondary access points within wirelesssignaling range of each client disassociated as part of the dissociationprocess; and recommending one or more of the secondary access points toeach client disassociated as part of the dissociation process.
 7. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprisingnon-transitory instructions sufficient for: determining one or moreroaming partners authenticated for access to the wireless spectrumavailable through the primary access point; determining one or moreroaming partners associated with a secondary access point in proximityto the primary access point; determining one or more common roamingpartners common to both of the primary access point and the secondaryaccess point; and implementing an advertisement process when thethroughput is less than the minimum throughput to prevent the primaryaccess point from advertising availability of the common roamingpartners.
 8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7further comprising non-transitory instruction sufficient for determiningthe one or more roaming partners associated with the secondary accesspoint as a function of an advertisement message broadcasted from thesecondary access point.
 9. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 1 further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficientfor: determining a plurality of secondary access points in proximity tothe primary access point; determining roaming partners, signal strengthand number of clients for each of the secondary access points;determining an advertisement ranking for each of the secondary accesspoints according to a weighting of signal strength and number ofclients, the advertisement ranking the secondary access point having theleast load and the greatest signal strength first and each additionalsecondary access point similarly in decreasing order thereafter; andimplementing an advertisement process when the throughput is less thanthe minimum throughput, the advertisement process iteratively preventingthe primary access point from advertising roaming partners in commonwith the secondary access points such that the common roaming partnersfor the first rank secondary access point are prevented and similarly soon until the throughput meets or exceeds the minimum throughput.
 10. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality ofnon-transitory instructions operable with a primary access point tofacilitate load balancing, the non-transitory instructions beingsufficient for: determining a plurality of clients having completed anassociation process sufficient for obtaining access to a wirelessspectrum available through the primary access point; determining aminimum throughput to represent a minimum data rate for wirelesssignaling carried over the wireless spectrum between the plurality ofclients and the primary access point; determining a throughput torepresent an active data rate for wireless signaling being carried overthe wireless spectrum between the plurality of clients and the primaryaccess point; determining a plurality of secondary access points inproximity to the primary access point, the secondary access pointshaving wireless spectrum available to identified roaming partners; andimplementing an advertisement process when the throughput is less thanthe minimum throughput, the advertisement process preventing the primaryaccess point from advertising wireless spectrum availability for roamingpartners in common with one or more of the secondary access points. 11.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 furthercomprising non-transitory instructions sufficient for: determining thesecondary access points to include at least a first access point and asecond access point; and implementing the advertisement process asfollows: i) instigating a first prevention whereby the primary accesspoint is prevented from advertising roaming partners in common with thefirst access point; ii) determining whether the throughput meets orexceeds the throughput minimum following the first prevention; iii) ifthe throughput meets or exceeds the threshold, permitting the primaryaccess point to continue advertising available of the roaming partnersremaining after the first prevention; and iv) if the throughput fails tomeet or exceed the threshold, instigating a second prevention wherebythe primary access point is additionally prevented from advertisingroaming partners in common with the second access point.
 12. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 further comprisingnon-transitory instructions sufficient for: determining a signalstrength for each of the first and second access points; and determiningthe first access point as the one of the secondary access points havingthe greater signal strength.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 11 further comprising non-transitory instructionssufficient for: determining a number of clients for each of the firstand second access points; and determining the first access point as theone of the secondary access points having the least number of clients.14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 furthercomprising non-transitory instructions sufficient for: determining asignal strength and a number of clients for each of the first and secondaccess points; determining whether the signal strengths of the first andsecond access are within a signaling strength range; if the signalingstrengths are within the signaling strength range, determining the firstaccess point as the one of the secondary access points having the lowernumber of clients; and if the signaling strengths fail to be within thesignaling strength range, determining the first access point as the oneof the secondary access points having the greater signal strength. 15.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 furthercomprising non-transitory instructions sufficient for determining thesignal strength and the number of clients for each of the first andsecond access points as a function of advertisements broadcasttherefrom.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10further comprising non-transitory instructions sufficient forimplementing a disassociation process when the throughput is less thanthe minimum throughput, the dissociation process iterativelydisassociating clients according to an order specified in a rankinguntil the throughput meets or exceeds the threshold.
 17. A wirelessaccess point comprising: a wireline network interface operable toexchange signal over a wireline network; a wireless interface operableto exchange wireless signals with authenticated devices in proximitythereto; a controller configured to implement a load balancing processto manage devices authenticated to exchange signals via the wirelessinterface, the load balancing process forcing disassociation of at leastone of the authenticated devices and roaming partners upon occurrence ofone or more triggering events.
 18. The wireless access point of claim 17wherein the controller is configured to force disassociation of one ormore of the authenticated devices according to a disassociation process,the dissociation process: iteratively disassociating the authenticateddevices according to an order specified in a ranking until a throughputassociated with the wireless interface meets or exceeds a threshold;determining one or more secondary access points within wirelesssignaling range of each disassociated device as a function ofadvertisements transmitted therefrom; and recommending one of thesecondary access point to each of the disassociated devices forsubsequent association.
 19. The wireless access point of claim 18wherein disassociation process includes: determining a traffic typeassociated with wireless signaling being exchanged between the wirelessinterface and the authenticated devices; and determining the order as afunction of the traffic types, including determining the order such thatthe authenticated devices associated with a first traffic type aredisassociated prior to authenticated devices associated with a secondtraffic type.
 20. The wireless access point of claim 17 wherein thecontroller is configured to force disassociation of one or more of theroaming partners according to an advertisement process, theadvertisement process: determining a plurality of secondary accesspoints in proximity to the access point, the secondary access pointshaving wireless spectrum available to identified roaming partners; andpreventing the primary access point from advertising wireless spectrumavailability for roaming partners in common with one or more of thesecondary access points.